New MSCS superintendent says school closures 'highly likely.' What else she said after first week

Marie Feagins, Ed.D., had a whirlwind of a first week as superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

She launched her Voice Improves Partnership (VIP) tour. She visited Melrose High School, Fox Meadows Elementary, Kate Bond Elementary and Kate Bond Middle School. She met community members at Red Zone Ministries and Southwest Tennessee Community College. The last day of the week ― her birthday ― she volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

And amid these events, there were meetings with local leaders and staffers as she and her team looked closely at issues in the district and wider community that need to be addressed.

On Tuesday, Feagins spoke about her first week and discussed issues within MSCS that she plans to address, as well as the likelihood of school closures. Here’s what she said.

Infrastructure and potential closures

MSCS’ aging infrastructure was something that Feagins discussed quite a bit during a media briefing Tuesday, as addressing facility challenges has been a priority of the district for months.

“The leaks have leaked on my head, so I get that,” Feagins said. “Those are some things that I wish we could get into a little faster. I've had conversations with a team about what does it take, to really reduce the number of maintenance requests that we have? How do we get into schools and really accelerate the work that we're able to do?”

MSCS has $500 million in deferred maintenance and an average school building age of 64, 24 years past the national recommended life span of a school building. In August, as temperatures eclipsed 100 degrees, the aging HVAC systems in school buildings struggled to cool classrooms, and some broke down.

The district is putting together a comprehensive infrastructure plan to address facility challenges within its footprint.

When asked about whether the district had considered school closures, Feagins acknowledged that they were a strong possibility. Chalkbeat Tennessee had reported in late January that 21 schools could close as part of the plan.

“A safe place to be right now is just owning that,” she said about the potential for school closures. “That is highly likely, and so not being afraid to just be transparent, that those conversations not only will be held, but on the other side of the conversations will be the actions.”

Still, she emphasized that it’s a complicated process. Feagins thinks it’s important to explain, in detail, why it could close schools, and cited factors like declining enrollment that’s being seen around the nation amid a declining birthrate and an increase in children being homeschooled. Engaging the community is key, and schools aren't going to be closed overnight.

“It's not one dimensional in, ‘Will we close a school? Will we merge schools?'” she said. “It is the factors that go into that. It’s giving the time to the number of sessions, the involvement with the community. That's necessary to give it the attention that it needs, for the questions to be asked.”

MSCS also hasn’t made official decisions yet about which schools could merge or close. As Feagins put it:

“We're still on the front end of those decisions, as we think about the audit that’s being done, to really give the concerted attention of looking at, building by building, community by community, listening to the feedback from the community, and then finding that general compromise and happy medium, about making perceptually tough decisions, but also honoring the nostalgia that comes from maintaining some of the buildings.”

'A concerted effort'

Last week, after a tour of Kate Bond Middle, Feagins spoke positively about her first week, but also said, “Nothing surprises me unless it is something that is disheartening, and I'm seeing it a little too much.” On Tuesday, she elaborated.

Some of it was related to simple things.

“Anytime a student or a parent share that they haven't been served well, or there's a general breakdown in communication or relationships, those are the things that are disheartening for me because those are the things that we can get right,” she said. “It doesn't require money, doesn't require a lot of time. It just requires a concerted effort, a lot of intentionality, and a lot of consistency.”

But what, tangibly, are some areas where the district can make a more concerted effort?

“That would be comparable to a student not having a book or a pencil to write with, or some of the fundamental materials that it takes for a teacher to facilitate a class,” she said.

She also noted that there have been some concerns shared with her about whether students with disabilities are receiving the resources they need.

“It’s just making sure that we are doing a better job about monitoring our practices and services to all of our families, so that they are not having to bring to us and raise to our attention, that their students are being overlooked or not being served to the highest level,” she said. “There's just some general concerns where we're not meeting the bar in general, just fundamentally.”

Teacher compensation was another area Feagins mentioned, saying, “It’s just a little disheartening when the compensation kind of looks comparable to what it did when I entered the field about 17-18 years ago.”

Talent in the student body

There’s no shortage of issues to tackle, but Feagins remains excited about her new role with the district. And the students she’s interacted with have provided her with plenty of incentive to succeed. There are the students who have told her that math is their favorite subject and the ones who want to pursue STEM careers. There are the artists at White Station High, and the “phenomenal singer” she heard at Cromwell Elementary. There are the Ballet dancers at Overton High, and the jazz band at Central High School.

More: What did Memphis kids think of the 2024 solar eclipse? We asked this MSCS science class

There are the students who have asked her sharp questions about what she plans to do in the role – and how she plans to improve the district.

“We think about talent, and what's hidden in our students, and what we're really trying to tap into with what we provide,” she said. “There’s certainly a lot that have stood out.”

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins says school closures 'highly likely'